Yesterday I kept losing it!

Yesterday I went to the little known (to me anyway) village of Wigmore and explored the castle there. I had a brilliant time walking at my own pace up from the designated car park to the church first and then onto the castle. I had first thought the church was the castle as that was the only old building I could see from the village centre... so when I got to the church and realised my stupidity, I looked around for the castle - nothing visible to me at all. Strange, I thought, have I lost it! That became a bit of theme because as I approached the castle I lost it a couple of times when the path swerved a bit or dipped down. Once I got there, I decided to walk all around it and so followed a path to the right and lost it again. This time I found myself in the woods with no sight of the ruin at all. Luckily, my sense of direction is reasonably accurate and eventually after cavorting like a mountain goat I found a ruined wall, climbed round it and ended up in the centre of the old Great Hall!

There is a wonderful sense of history about the place and I could visualise the grandeur of the Mortimer family and their connections with royalty and looking out over the tumbled down walls at the views over Wigmore cemetery you can see for miles and miles. There are several information boards dotted around (useful for clue writing), and I came away feeling I'd learnt a lot in a relatively short space of time. The site is managed by English Heritage and I think they've got the balance of wildness and information just right.

I had a fab time, helped of course by the wonderful spring, actually, almost summer-like weather! My head was full of the views I'd seen and the stuff I'd learnt and the creative parts of my brain were coming up with fiendish and sneaky clues for a new Treasure Trail. Turns out I haven't lost it after all.

Significant Birthdays : 50th

Unfortunately, I am past my 50th, but we have created two lots of challenges for people who were celebrating their 50th birthday... one was in January and one in February. Here's what they thought - in their own words.


"I cant thank you enough for the treasure trail that you put together for my birthday in Herefordshire, we had such a fantastic time and it was a brilliant way to see the surrounding villages. Two teams did the trail on bikes and the third team wimped out and did it by car. It all got very competitive which was really funny particularly when Ken was marking it! We were very lucky with the weather, and despite the fact that it started snowing after lunch, this didnt cause a problem, it added to the fun and made the log fire, tea and cake all the better when we returned to the Lodge. I think the mix of clues from buildings etc in the villages and the items we had to find or buy was perfect and all of those who participated have said what a brilliant way to spend a day."


"Well what can I say. We had the time of our lives at the weekend,even in the rain. What a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon. We all really enjoyed the treasure trail. We all got the murderer and weapon right,most of us managed the shopping and photo challenge (even a man in drag!) and dingbats. Thank you so much for all the work you put into the challenge. I will be singing your praises from the roof tops and recommending you to everyone I know. Once again Thank you."


We are currently working on a 30th and a 70th...... will report back when I get their feedback!

On the road to Abergavenny!

As I drove along the A465 today I reflected on what a lucky person I am! The sun was shining and the views were stunning and the other people out on the roads were all smiling and waving and flashing their lights... yes you know why! There was a mobile speed camera and people were warning by flashing their lights as we approached it and then once we were through, we did the same to the oncoming traffic! Apparently it is illegal to warn other road users, but my defence would be that if it slows the traffic down, then we are all trying to achieve the same objective.

Talking of achieving the same objective, as a I drove along I thought of several people that I've met since arriving in Herefordshire who I reckon are like-minded and who bring money into the local economy and shout about how fab Herefordshire is.

I went past Kate's place, where they do fab printing, her website is http://www.thebeeline.co.uk/ and her twitter name is @thebeelineco

I went past the signs to Longtown where Christine is @hopechatter on Twitter and the website is http://www.hopesoflongtown.co.uk/

@TonyFisherhandw kept me company on the radio http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/hereford_and_worcester/ and there was an interview with a uni student about a new website she was planning to set up for tall girls (16 to 25 unfortunately) and she said that she'd been put in touch with Heather @wiggled of http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/ who I have also met since arriving in the county.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day!

Valentines Day!

Trails make a great gift at any time of the year, but for Valentine's Day we have a small selection of our most romantic Trails to choose from!

Broadway Spy Mission: this gorgeous cotswold village is world-renowned for its picturesque beauty and walking the length and breadth of its high street, one can't help falling in love! Indeed we have already been told of a proposal of marriage on this Trail. "A great way of seeing lots of things in Broadway that I didn't know existed" commented Gill when she submitted her answer to this spy mission.

The Trail is 1½ miles long and takes approximately 2 hours and is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Kington Spy Mission : Kington is a small historic market town on the English/Welsh border mentioned as ‘Chingtune' in the Domesday Book. There are beautiful panoramic views all round the town of the open countryside and surrounding hills and after a cosy lunch or tea for two in the Chocolate Box head up onto Hergest Ridge to walk along Offa's Dyke! "Thanks" said Stuart "we really enjoyed the Trail."

There are no steps or stairs to negotiate although there a couple of fairly steep inclines and regrettably it is not suitable for wheelchair users due to the narrow lanes and paths. It will take you approximately 2 hours assuming you don't divert into the many shops and cafes along the route! It is about 1.5 miles long.

Having said that these two Trails are great for lovers... lets be honest, if you are in the mood for love, then anywhere can be romantic when you are walking along hand in hand enjoying the view, popping into the unique shops along the way and stopping for coffee and cake!

Celebration of a Birthday

What better way to celebrate a birthday than to spend it with 24 of your friends and family in a fabulous location near Canon Pyon...... and do a Treasure Trail :).

We were commissioned to write a cycling Trail for a group of 14 of the said friends and family (the rest were planning to golf) around the black and white villages of North Herefordshire. The Trail we wrote was a round trip of 22 miles which doesn't seem that far except that on the day of the expedition it started to snow! Needless to say at the time we were devising the Trail we didn't know what the weather would be doing.

The Trail route follows our standard "Weobley and More" title, but the clues we wrote were much more sneaky as we knew the group were all adults and liked games and puzzles and a challenge! We arranged for them to have lunch in the Red Lion in Pembridge where they were all going to meet at 1.00 for a quick bite and we told them about lots of interesting sights along the way.... Dunkerton's Cider Mill, the pottery in Weobley, the Old Chapel Gallery in Pembridge and the wonderful exhibition in the Dovecote in Eardisland.

We added in some additional challenges and games to get them thinking about the area they were cycling around as most of them hadn't been to Herefordshire before and came from the built up south east - quite a culture shock! We set them a selection of stuff to buy or find which they probably thought would be dead easy, but in the wilds of North Herefordshire in February might prove harder than they would expect....... on the other hand, there is no point if it is too easy is it?

Can't wait to hear how they got on!

New Worcester Trails

I am really excited to be able to report that we have two new Worcester Trails to offer when we are at the Worcester Victorian Fair at the beginning of December!

Both have been written by David (who also wrote the two 'old' Worcester Trails), so we can be sure they complement each other beautifully. The first 'new' one is Worcester's Trail of 2 Bridges - a great name I think as it describes the Trail very well - it starts at the Sabrina Bridge end of Worcester's Severn and is a walking or cycling Trail. We have, for some time, been wanted to write a Trail that was off road and suitable for cycling and this one ticks that box! The Trail crosses over to the non-city side of Worcester and heads along the Severn, past Cripplegate Park. The park is delightful and has so much going on in it. Whenever I go past it I have fond memories of our very first fair - it was a summer flower fair and we sold all of 10 Trails and were very excited by the whole experience!

Crossing over the road and heading on past the cricket ground, you really feel you are out in the countryside and away from the bright lights of the city! The Trail heads to the new Diglis bridge and crossing over the bridge you are on the return journey, past the Diglis basin and loch! The development around there really is worth a view and some of the properties that have been built appear very desirable! Heading back along the river, there are all sorts of interesting things to see including how high the flooding has been in the past and I suspect that at certain times of the year, Trailers will need to check the height of the river before they attempt this Trail!

The Trail finishes back at Sabrina Bridge and will take around an hour and a half if walked at a reasonably relaxed pace!

The second new Trail is 'Worcester in Pictures'. This Trail has been written with the younger members of the family in mind and is entirely around the pedestrian parts of Worcester. It starts at the open market just outside the Crown Gate shopping centre and every clue has a photo attached to it. This means that younger Trailers can be shown the picture and can then look out for it as they walk around - we have had feedback from several customers that the children really like the hide and seek element of our Trails so this is a wonderful addition to the Worcestershire catalogue. It should also take around an hour and a half and perhaps can be done by Dad with the kids whilst Mum shops!! Just an idea :). Suffice to say that although we haven't quite finished testing it, we are looking forward to having it on the stall at the various Christmas markets we will be at this December.

Aberaeron

Doing a Treasure Trail in someone else’s patch is always very interesting and doing the Aberaeron Lost Treasure Hunt was no different to our experiences elsewhere! We were staying in a self catering place, right on the harbour and the route of the Treasure Trail went right past the house, so we decided not to start at the beginning but to pick up the route at Clue 5! I wonder if we’ve publicised enough that it really doesn’t matter where you start on a Trail when they are circular and you don’t need to know what has gone before to work out what is next.

We set off then towards the sea front, only distracted briefly by the clues and plaques that we passed before we found ourselves on the coastal path. Coastal paths are often very challenging, but this bit of it was flat and along the shore line which was a good thing for my recovering knee (had an op on it a couple of months ago). We were then directed up through fields and back down again into the main part of town. As we walked around we learnt much about the town which is Georgian and very beautiful even in November with the houses painted lovely pastel shades and in fantastic knick considering they are by the sea.

I hadn’t realised that Aberaeron was one of Dylan Thomas’s haunts and was also intrigued to find a plaque on a bridge which was built by one of my old employers, no longer in existence as the company was acquired by Tarmac way back in the late 70s!

We did think we might try out the Aberystwyth Trail as well, but as the Tourist Information Centre had sold out of them, we didn’t manage to get hold of one.....but we plan to go back in September or October next year and will be more organised with a stock of Trails ready! They really do make sure you see the best bits of a town and of course give the walk a purpose!

The weather deteriorated as the week went on, but the sunsets were gorgeous and the restaurants either side of us served heavenly food, so all in all we had a great time!